Hot Topics:

Senator demands action on gap in sex offender oversight

Sentinel & Enterprise

Updated:
04/12/2013 12:00:09 PM EDT

By Colleen Quinn

State House News Service

BOSTON -- A state senator whose district includes a child care center that had its licensed revoked after it was discovered a registered sex offender lived at the same address is demanding that state officials devise an "immediate action plan" to respond to gaps in oversight.

Sen. Kathleen O'Connor Ives, D-Newburyport, also plans to file legislation this month that imposes more thorough checks of anyone associated with the child care centers or living on the premises against the state Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) and address crosschecks against the Sex Offender Registry Information (SORI).

O'Connor Ives told the News Service it is a "severe problem that deserves a fast response in return." Four child care center licenses were revoked by the Department of Early Education and Care (EEC), including one in Methuen - part of the senator's district - along with two in Springfield and one in Leominster.

She said she was very disturbed by the discovery and "it made me wonder what is the EEC doing? That's what it made me wonder.

Advertisement

If they're not doing this, what are they doing? What are their priorities? And I want to know what they are?"

The centers that lost their licenses failed to report or disclose to EEC that a registered sex offender was, or had been living on the premises. No children are believed to have been harmed, according to EEC officials, who pointed out none of the crimes the registered sex offenders were convicted of involved children.

EEC Interim Commissioner Thomas Weber said early education and public safety officials immediately responded to the audit findings, and have instituted several new precautionary steps to crosscheck child care facility addresses with the sex offender registry database.

"We take the audit very seriously. We think the recommendations the auditor made are good for the agency, and things we promised we would act upon quickly," Weber told the News Service Thursday.

In response to last month's audit, EEC has started requiring all child care programs applying for a license or renewal to provide all information necessary for the department to run checks against the Sex Offender Registry database, according to Weber.

EEC is also working with state public safety officials to run a monthly check where the addresses of all Level 2 and Level 3 sex offenders are crosschecked against licensed child care programs. The department gets regular updates on any changes in addresses for either the child care provider or sex offenders, according to Weber.

"In addition, we intend to publish the results of these checks in our annual report to the Legislature so there is transparency around this situation," Weber said.

EEC also started featuring the SORI database on its website to give families more information, Weber said.

Weber and O'Connor Ives are scheduled to meet April 16 to discuss the department's actions and her legislation.

"I would say we accepted the auditor's recommendations and we acted promptly and emphatically, but we are always looking for ways to improve, but we certainly looked forward to hearing more about the senator's suggestions," Weber said

House lawmakers also recently proposed new requirements for EEC. The House budget, released this week, includes a provision that requires EEC to perform address matches of licensed care facilities and the Sex Offender Registry. Also under the budget proposal, Level II sex offenders, whose identities are only available upon request at local police stations, would be posted online.

Last month Bump's office released details of a department audit that found 119 initial address matches between registered sex offenders and child care locations. EEC officials then investigated and discovered 54 sex offenders' addresses overlapped with child care providers, according to EEC.

Of the 119 initial address matches, 16 involved programs that were closed; 39 were addresses or programs located on community college campuses or places of employment where the identified sex offender was either attending school or working; and 10 had no match for licensed programs at any of the up to three addresses provided.

The auditor's office also faulted the department for not conducting annual unannounced visits at residential child care facilities, which is required by law. O'Connor Ives said if the department was not able to conduct inspections because it was short-staffed, "then that's an emergency situation that requires an emergency response, and I don't think anyone was aware of that."

Under O'Connor Ives' legislation, all child care facilities licensed through EEC would be required to perform CORI checks on all facility operators, household members older than 15, persons regularly on the premises, or any workers or people living in an at-home day care. Anyone who did not complete CORI checks would have their license suspended until the check is done.

EEC would also be required to do a Sex Offender Registry Information (SORI) check on all new applicants and renewal applications, conducting address checks between the child care provider address and the sex offender registry, as well as household members older than 15, persons regularly on the premises, and any workers or people living at the at-home day care.

Any child care operators who knowingly live with, employ or has visits from a sex offender will have their license immediately revoked, and be fined $1,000 with the potential for 30 days in jail.

Under the legislation, EEC would also establish and document a 30-day corrective action plan for any child care facility with deficiencies found during inspections. Any facility with violations would also be required to post their violations and the corrective action they are taking for parents to see. After 30 days, if the facility is still not in compliance, the license will be suspended.

Welcome to your discussion forum: Sign in with a Disqus account or your social networking account for your comment to be posted immediately, provided it meets the guidelines. (READ HOW.)
Comments made here are the sole responsibility of the person posting them; these comments do not reflect the opinion of The Sentinel and Enterprise. So keep it civil.